I don't believe people are so stupid that they can't realize they are in a bad situation and don't have the ability to improve themselves. The welfare state treats people like retards; I have higher expectations for people. Not getting an education is a choice. Going to jail is a choice. Drugs are a choice. Etc. They aren't bred to choose this path; they have free will. People know that theses are bad ideas; they choose them anyway.
I was born into desperate poverty. At the time, we were a family of five living in an old beat-up, one-bedroom travel trailer. Not a double-wide. Not a single-wide. A travel trailer. I hated my situation, and I wanted something better. I went to a crappy public school - portable classrooms with no air conditioning in southern Alabama. I used that, among many other things, as motivation. I greatly improved my lot in life. I don't see myself as better than anyone else; I'm nothing special. Others can do what I did.
In this country one has automatic access to avenues to improve oneself. In Vietnam, and most other places in the world, that is not the case. No money, no school. Or in my wife's case, no school because her family was declared and enemy of the state. Here people can go to school. And (non Asian) minorities can get a free ride to college. There's no excuse for not taking advantage of what is there.